The fairy tale of Agnieszka and the magical forest.
The village of Dvernik is bordered with an enchanted and deadly forest, the Wood. They give a teenage girl in every ten years to the local wizard, the Dragon, as a payment, to protect the valley. Nobody knows, how he chooses, but the girls are always changed after coming back from the white tower and eventually they leave Dvernik forever. Kasia is beautiful and talented, everybody is sure, that she will be the next one to take and she is groomed at this since her childhood. However when the time comes, the Dragon chooses Agnieszka, Kasia's friend. The clumsy girl is shocked, since always the best and brightest one was taken. Soon the reason of Dragon's surprising decision is explained, he is choosing those, who have magic. And Agnieszka definitely has. The girl starts her time in the white tower, the wizard's home, as his apprentice. A fully new world opens for her with this, but she has to remember that her old one also might needs her and her new found magic.
I loved every page of Uprooted, it was like a classic, old style fairy tale. The deadly, magical forest spiced the story with a mysterious and dark atmosphere, which made it more interesting for me. Agnieszka and Kasia were my favourites characters. The twists of the story were also good and some of them surprised me. Another thing I liked in the novel, that it was so well-balanced, there was just the right amount from the Wood and the white tower too. At the end of the story, I got answers at all of my questions, which I had during reading Uprooted. Even that it was a single book, if there would be any continuation, I would definitely read it.
To sum everything, Naomi Novik's Uprooted was a great read and I can recommend it to everyone, mostly those, who like fantasy and young adult. A dark, captivating story with good characters, like a long, classic fairy tale. A novel, which I will surely read again.
ISBN number:
ISBN-13: 9780804179058
ISBN-10: 0804179050
